micro bubbles in tank ..

[Shanni]

I have a 72 gal. bow front with a CPR cy192 wet/dry and cs90 overflow. There is about 100 lbs of live rock. The set-up is a about 2 months old and I've had a bubble problem since the biginning. All the chemical levels are good, I use ocean water (from a local retailer) for my water changes and don't use any type of conditioner. I used Kent's two part buffering solutions but haven't in a week or so as the levels are good. I also do not have any bends in any of the tubing I have and I use a RIO 600 to remove the air from the overflow. I place this in the same chamber that the RIO 600 I use for the skimmer is in (in the cy192). If I shut off the skimmer I notice a lot less bubbles, but there is still some. (I don't know if they would completely go away if I left the dkimmer off for more than a few hours.) Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks
-Paul

[srgtkoons]

I had a bubble problem that was coming from my sandbed. I added some good LS with lots of critters and it went away. A sandbed that doesnt have a sufficent level of critters to keep it constantly turning over creates pockets of bubbles. The bubbles are from the anaerobic zones and the conversion of nitrate to whatever it converts to. And without adequate turn over the bubles build up until enough gas is trapped to push the sand out of the way. I used to get little eruptions of tiny bubbles every 15 to 20 minutes or so. Give it some time for your sandbed to fully mature and it might go away. You also might want to put some foam pre filters over the outlet of your skimmer. The water coming out is usually pretty clean so you wont have problems with them producing alotta nitrates.